1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a license management apparatus, a license management system, a license management method, and a recording medium. More particularly, the present invention relates to a license management apparatus, a license management system, a license management method, and a recording medium, in which license information for each operational function of a plurality of devices is managed.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a system in which a plurality of MFPs (Multi Function Peripherals), a plurality of terminals (for example, PC (Personal Computer) and the like), and servers managing them are connected via a network, the server has a function of managing a workflow. A workflow is formed of a plurality of jobs. A job is executed using, for example, the functions of MFP and PC. When a workflow is issued, a job included in the workflow is executed. A job uses an operational function of each of MFP and PC.
For example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2003-122537 discloses a technique for managing the number of licenses in such a manner that an operational function of each of MFP and PC can be supplied as a license, and license permission/rejection is decided for an operational function use request from the user so as to use each operational function smoothly.
On the other hand, as disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2003-323224, the technique of license management includes a technique of floating license in which a license of software operated on PC is shared between PCs connected to a network and is flexibly managed.
In the license management technique disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2003-122537, however, when the user desires to use a certain operational function (also referred to as function A hereinafter), the corresponding license is used in order according to the order of issuing a job or workflow. Thus, a required license is not always available when necessary, and the execution of job or workflow may be stopped or suspended for a long time, thereby disabling an efficient operation with efficient use of a license.
Moreover, since a license is reserved at a fixed reservation time, the execution time of job or workflow is still fixed even when the license becomes available due to deletion of a job. Accordingly, the job or workflow is not executed even when the license becomes available.